Tag: Words With Myriam

“Lost” by David Wagoner

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry4 Comments

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. you must let it find you.

by David Wagoner, from Collected Poems 1956-1976

This week of Words has been hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you have enjoyed her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“The Gate” by Marie Howe

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry

I had no idea that the gate I would step through
to finally enter this world
would be the space my brother’s body made. He was
a little taller than me: a young man
but grown, himself by then,
done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet,
rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold
and running water.
This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me.
And I’d say, What?
And he’d say, This—holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich.
And I’d say, What?
And he’d say, This, sort of looking around.

~ Marie Howe, via On Being

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“The Breeze at Dawn” by Rumi

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

~ Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, Essential Rumi

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” by Amiri Baraka

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry

Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus…

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter’s room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there…
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

 

Amiri Baraka: Online Poems, via The Modern American Poetry Site

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“Everything is Waiting for You” by David Whyte

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry2 Comments

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

— David Whyte
from Everything is Waiting for You
©2003 Many Rivers Press

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy